2.

1 Introduction: Methods of Philosophizing

Learners must evaluate arguments and ways of expressing one’s beliefs, emotions, and opinions.

Philosophizing – to think or express oneself in a philosophical manner. It considers or discusses a (matter) from a philosophical
standpoint.
 In PHENOMENOLOGY -, truth is based on the person’s consciousness; while in
 EXISTENTIALISM - truth is based in exercising choices and personal freedom; in
 POSTMODERNISM – it is accepted that truth is not absolute; and in
 LOGIC – truth is based on reasoning and critical thinking

A. Phenomenology : On Consciousness

 Edmund Husserl founded phenomenology which is essentially a philosophical method. This focuses on careful inspection
and description of phenomena or appearances, defined as any object of conscious experience, that is, that which we are
conscious of (Johnston,2006).
 Phenomenon comes from Greek word meaning “appearance”.
- Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, has used the same word to refer to the world of experience.
- Husserl intends a similar meaning except for the crucial fact that for him, it does not imply a contrast between the
appearance and some underlying reality, between the phenomenon and a “noumenon” or “thing-in-itself”. It is
where the trouble starts, when one supposes that what one experiences is not or might not be the truth (Solomon
&Higgins 2010).
- is a broad discipline and method of inquiry in philosophy, developed largely by the German philosophers Edmund
Husserl and Martin Heidegger, which is based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events
("phenomena") as they are perceived or understood in the human consciousness, and not of
anything independent of human consciousness.

 Phenomenology – is the scientific study of the essential structures of consciousness.

- It tries to make us see every phenomenon or object in a true and purified meaning.
- Claims that every ‘consciousness is consciousness of something’, and you will have to get to many steps to get to
the essence of things.

“Consciousness is consciousness of something” – We are trying to use our inner sensibility, trying to understand that
there is something more to what we see and know, that in our exhaustive effort to think, we can arrive at the truth of every
phenomenon, or simply put, in every experience of objects (anything seen, physically or mentally), because we are subjects (we are
human beings conscious of what is going on) ourselves.

- This process entails a method or a series of continuously revised methods – for taking up a peculiarly
phenomenological standpoint, “bracketing out” everything that is not essential, thereby understanding the basic rules or
constitutive processes through which consciousness does its work of knowing the world.
- Hussel’s phenomenology is the thesis that consciousness is intentional. Every act of consciousness is directed at some
object or another, possibly a material object or an “ideal’ object (e.g mathematics).
- The phenomenologist can distinguish and describe the nature of the intentional acts of consciousness and the intentional
objects of consciousness, which are defined through the content of consciousness.
- The inspection and description are supposed to be effected without any presuppositions, including any as to whether
such objects of consciousness are “real” or correspond to something “external”, or to what their causes or consequences
may be. This method uncovers the essential structures of experience and its objects. The sorts of experiences and
phenomena that phenomenologist have sought to describe are highly carried.

In sum, what interest the phenomenologist are the contents of consciousness, not on things of the natural world as such. Husserl
distinguishes between the natural world and the phenomenological standpoint.
 Natural world/attitude - is our everyday viewpoint and the ordinary stance of the natural sciences, describing things and
states of affairs.
- When we are comfortable with the things that we already know

 Phenomenological standpoint/attitude - is the special viewpoint achieved by the phenomenologist, as he or she focuses
not on things but our consciousness of things (Solomon & Higgins 2010).
 - When we try our best to direct our consciousness to investigate the essence of every
phenomenon.

B. Existentialism :On Freedom

Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. It is the view that humans define their
own meaning in life, and try to make rational decisions despite existing in an irrational universe. It focuses on the question
of human existence, and the feeling that there is no purpose or explanation at the core of existence. It holds that, as there is no
God or any other transcendent force, the only way to counter this nothingness (and hence to find meaning in life) is
by embracing existence.

Existential phenomenology, is designed to make us see what every existing thing means to someone (individual in his subjectivity)
who experiences it by a thorough reflection (as in phenomenology) and through awareness of his experience of himself as an existing
being in the world of things (existentialism).

 Existence precedes essence

Unlike René Descartes, who believed in the primacy of conciousness, Existentialists assert that a human being is "thrown
into" into a concrete, inveterate universe that cannot be "thought away", and therefore existence ("being in the
world") precedes consciousness, and is the ultimate reality. Existence, then, is prior to essence (essence is
the meaning that may be ascribed to life), contrary to traditional philosophical views dating back to the ancient Greeks.
As Sartre put it: "At first [Man] is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he
will be."

 Existentialist believes that any person can create meanings and he/she must be responsible for it.
Existentialism believes that individuals are entirely free and must take personal responsibility for themselves (although
with this responsibility comes angst, a profound anguish or dread). It therefore emphasizes action, freedom and decision as
fundamental, and holds that the only way to rise above the essentially absurd condition of humanity (which is
characterized by suffering and inevitable death) is by exercising our personal freedom and choice 

 Existentialism restores the freshness of every experience, and learning from it involves the learning of everyone.

Existentialists believe that personal experience and acting on one's own convictions are essential in arriving at the truth, and that
the understanding of a situation by someone involved in that situation is superior to that of a detached, objective observer (similar
to the concept of Subjectivism).

Subjectivity – means that I create meaning for myself. The “I” creates one for himself too. I ask about what is the world, but in so
doing I must not forget that I am in it, involved in it, and I help create that same world I am investigating.